What to do about retirement account ID theft

Criminals armed with a flood of data stolen in recent data breaches are newly targeting consumers where it might hurt most: their retirement accounts. The lucrative crime of brokerage account takeovers isn’t new, but it appears identity thieves are having more luck recently raiding victims’ retirements, tricking brokers into emptying accounts and mailing checks that can exceed $100,000.

It’s critical for consumers to realize that retirement accounts have few of the protections afforded to credit and debit card holders; getting “refunds” after an incident like this involves much more than a few phone calls.